I asked “Why do schools not teach us what we need to know?” And I got my answer. For archiac jobs and we needed to be easier to to control.

Like dominoes, I asked, and I recieved.

I wanted to know how we could be asked to choose between two evils, not recieve our choice, and call it democracy. I wanted to know how I could vote to change who makes those decisions and many others. I found my vote, even a majority vote, has little to no impact on policies, representation, or how we get there.

I turned my attention back inward, my own actions, knowledge, and growth.

I knew we wallowed in inequality. I desired to at least reduce my own harm and have my voice heard on the harm done to me. I came to see poor and working class as further identities. The latter we all shared, except those that own our labors.

Like snow down a hill, I learned, and learned, and learned.

I learned of the “tolerance paradox” and felt it in my Episcopalian upbringing.

I had thought ideologies and cruelties our only enemies, then I learned the word systemic, then I learned the types of ownership.

I looked to history. I saw the ebb and flow of progress, always inching ever worse economically, at least for the working class.

No longer was it enough for me to be kind in a well considered manner and ask considered kindness in turn.

Knowledge we have and will continue to grow. Humanity we have and will continue to share.

What we need is momentum towards public good as systemic, specific, and widespread as the systems that oppress us.